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Cencora

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American healthcare company
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Cencora, Inc.
FormerlyAmerisourceBergen Corporation (2001–2023)
Company typePublic
Traded as
IndustryPharmaceutical
Founded2001; 23 years ago (2001) (merger between AmeriSource Health and Bergen Brunswig)
HeadquartersConshohocken, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Area served
Key people
ProductsPharmaceuticals and pharmacy services
RevenueIncrease US$294 billion (2024)
Operating incomeDecrease US$2.18 billion (2024)
Net incomeDecrease US$1.51 billion (2024)
Total assetsIncrease US$67.1 billion (2024)
Total equityIncrease US$646 million (2024)
OwnerWalgreens Boots Alliance (10%)
Number of employeesc. 46,000 (2024)
Websitecencora.com
Footnotes / references
Financials as of September 30, 2024.

Cencora, Inc., formerly known as AmerisourceBergen, is an American drug wholesale company and a contract research organization that was formed by the merger of Bergen Brunswig and AmeriSource in 2001. It is considered one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and distributes generic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products as well as home healthcare supplies and equipment.

Background

AmerisourceBergen was formed in 2001 following the merger of AmeriSource Health Corporation and Bergen Brunswig Corporation. David Yost was CEO of Amerisource prior to the merger and remained in the position after the companies merged.

AmerisourceBergen has 26 pharmaceutical distribution centers in the US, nine distribution centers in Canada, four specialty distribution centers in the US, and over 1 million square feet of packaging production capacity in the US and the UK. With the addition of World Courier, the largest specialty courier company in the world, over 150 company-owned offices around the globe were added to the company.

AmerisourceBergen operates its pharmaceutical distribution business under four primary units: AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation (ABDC), AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group (ABSG), AmerisourceBergen Consulting Services (ABCS) and World Courier. In March 2016, pharmacy Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. announced it would exercise an option to purchase 22.7 million shares of AmerisourceBergen stock and thereby control 15% of the company.

In 2012, the firm was the largest by revenue based in Pennsylvania.

The company changed its name to Cencora as of August 30, 2023 and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol "COR".

In May 2024, Cencora disclosed it had been the subject of a cyber incident in which patient information was exposed.

Products

They provide drug distribution and consulting related to medical business operations and patient services. They also distribute a line of brand name and generic pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter (OTC) health care products and home health care supplies and equipment to health care providers throughout the United States, including acute care hospitals and health systems, independent and chain retail pharmacies, mail-order facilities, physicians, clinics and other alternate site facilities, as well as nursing and assisted living centers. They also provide pharmaceuticals and pharmacy services to long-term care, workers' compensation and specialty drug patients.

AmerisourceBergen handles about 20% of all of the pharmaceuticals sold and distributed throughout the United States and ranked 10th on the Fortune 500 list for 2020 with over $179 billion in annual revenue.

Good Neighbor Pharmacy

Good Neighbor Pharmacy is an American retailers' cooperative network of more than 3,400 independently owned and operated pharmacies. It has a business affiliation with AmerisourceBergen, which sponsors the network and owns the name "Good Neighbor Pharmacy." Good Neighbor Pharmacy is the sponsor for "ThoughtSpot," the annual trade show held in both Orlando and Las Vegas.

Acquisitions

  • In 2011, the company acquired IntrinsiQ for $35 million and Premier Source for an undisclosed amount. In July, Steven Collis replaced Yost as CEO of the company.
  • In March 2012, AmerisourceBergen agreed to acquire World Courier Group Inc, a transportation and logistics provider for the biopharmaceutical industry, for $520 million.
  • In January 2015, the company bought MWI Veterinary for $2.5 billion. In October, they agreed to buy PharMEDium, a compounding drug company, for $2.58 billion.
  • On January 3, 2018, AmerisourceBergen acquired H. D. Smith, the largest privately-held national pharmaceutical wholesaler in the U.S.
  • On June 2, 2021, AmerisourceBergen acquired Alliance Healthcare from Walgreens Boots Alliance for approximately $6.5 billion, made up of $6.275 billion in cash and 2 million shares of AmerisourceBergen common stock.

In June 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced an unusual agreement for the distribution of remdesivir, the first coronavirus drug. HHS agreed to manufacturer Gilead's wholesale acquisition price, while HHS would continue to work together with state governments and AmerisourceBergen to allocate shipments of remdesivir vials to American hospitals through the end of September 2020, and in exchange, during that time-frame American patients would be allocated over 90% of Gilead's projected remdesivir output of more than 500,000 treatment courses.

Finances

For the fiscal year 2019, AmerisourceBergen reported earnings of US$1.11 billion, with an annual revenue of US$179.58 billion. AmerisourceBergen's shares traded at over $88 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over US$19.2 billion in September 2019.

Controversies

Opioid epidemic

AmerisourceBergen is among several distributors that have been sued by West Virginian governments for contributing to the Opioid epidemic, by shipping inordinate amounts of pain medication into the state.

In December 2019, Michigan became the first state to sue AmerisourceBergen and three other opioid distributors as drug dealers for their role in the state's opioid crisis. The lawsuit is filed under the Michigan Drug Dealer Liability Act. AmerisourceBergen was among four companies who, because of their role in the addiction crisis, agreed to pay $260 million to two Ohio counties.

In May 2020, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter sued AmerisourceBergen in Bryan County District Court, Oklahoma. The lawsuit alleged that the company's actions helped fuel Oklahoma's opioid crisis. The suit was filed along with lawsuits against Cardinal Health and McKesson, and the three lawsuits allege that the three companies provided "enough opioids to Bryan County that every adult resident there could have had 144 hydrocodone tablets."

In January 2022, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $26 billion to settle with all but five of the states suing them. The deal covered the bulk of the grievances against these four companies, including 90 percent of municipal governments, 46 states, and Washington, DC. Had the states gone to court, the companies could have faced up to $95 billion in penalties. AmeriSource Bergen and the three other companies did not admit wrongdoings.

Legal issues

On October 1, 2018, Amerisourcebergen agreed to pay $625M to resolve allegations that it had illegally repackaged and distributed oncology-supportive injectable drugs.

In October 2018, AmerisourceBergen agreed to pay $625 million to settle civil fraud allegations resulting from its repackaging and sale of adulterated drugs and unapproved new drugs, double billing and providing kickbacks to physicians.

As part of the civil settlement, ABC admitted that between January 2001 and January 2014, MII and OSC operated a program that created, packed and shipped millions of pre-filled syringes (PFS) to oncology practices for administration to vulnerable cancer patients (the PFS Program).  At MII, an ABC subsidiary located in Alabama, the drug product was removed from the original glass vials and multiple vials of the product were pooled in untested plastic containers.  Then the drug, including the overfill, was extracted and repackaged into syringes.  By harvesting the overfill, ABC was able to create more doses than it bought from the original vial manufacturers and avoid opening some of the vials.  ABC retained the unopened vials and sold them to other customers and to its subsidiary ABDC for resale.  During the 13 years the PFS Program was in operation, MII manufactured thousands of syringes daily, and eventually over one million syringes per year.  These syringes were sold throughout the United States.  Approximately 57% of the patients who were injected with the PFS were Federal Health Care Program beneficiaries.  The profit from the PFS Program was between $2.3 and $14.4 million annually for a total profit of at least $99.6 million.

ABC’s scheme enabled it to bill multiple health care providers for the same vial of drug, causing some of those providers to bill the Federal Health Care Programs for the same vial more than once.  The scheme also enabled ABC to increase its market share by offering various product discounts, which it leveraged to obtain new customers and to keep existing customers who purchased its entire portfolio of oncology drugs.  ABC excluded the entire PFS Program from its standard regulatory audit and pedigree compliance programs. AmerisourceBergen's stock price reportedly plummeted after they were among other drug distributors who offered $10 billion to settle their portion of the national opioids lawsuit. States countered with $45 billion.

References

  1. "US SEC: Form 10-K AmerisourceBergen". United States Securities and Exchange Commission. November 26, 2024.
  2. "AmerisourceBergen, Form 8-K, Current Report, Filing Date Aug 30, 2001". secdatabase.com. Retrieved January 7, 2013.
  3. Wankel, Charles (2009). Encyclopedia of Business in Today's World: A - C. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-4129-6427-2.
  4. "AmerisourceBergen Added to S&P 500 index". Archived from the original on March 22, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  5. ^ "UPDATE 2-Amerisource CEO Yost to retire, Collis to succeed". Reuters. March 14, 2011. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  6. "AmerisourceBergen Acquires World Courier". World Courier. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  7. Leeclaire, George (March 18, 2016). "Walgreens Boots buys bigger stake in AmerisourceBergen". Associated Press. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  8. AmerisourceBergen: The biggest Pennsylvania company you never heard of, by David Sell, Philadelphia Inquirer, July 15, 2012
  9. "Eight area companies make Fortune 500". Philadelphia Business Journal. May 28, 2013. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  10. "AmerisourceBergen becomes Cencora". August 30, 2023. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  11. Whittaker, Zack (May 24, 2024). "US pharma giant Cencora says Americans' health information stolen in data breach". TechCrunch.
  12. "AmerisourceBergen | 2020 Fortune 500". Fortune. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  13. "AmerisourceBergen buys IntrinsiQ". Philadelphia Business Journal. September 6, 2011.
  14. "AmerisourceBergen buys Premier Source". The Oklahoman. September 2, 2011. Archived from the original on July 17, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  15. Sell, David (March 6, 2012). "AmerisourceBergen to acquire World Courier Group". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  16. ^ "AmerisourceBergen to buy PharMEDium for $2.58 billion". Reuters. October 6, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  17. "AmerisourceBergen Completes Acquisition of HD Smith". AmerisourceBergen. Archived from the original on September 26, 2018. Retrieved September 25, 2018.
  18. Olsen, Dean. "Former H.D. Smith workforce reducing to 25 locally". The State Journal-Register. Archived from the original on July 17, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  19. "Walgreens Boots Alliance Completes Strategic Transaction with AmerisourceBergen Divesting Alliance Healthcare Businesses". Businesswire (Press release).
  20. Kolata G (June 29, 2020). "Remdesivir, the First Coronavirus Drug, Gets a Price Tag". The New York Times. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  21. "Trump Administration Secures New Supplies of Remdesivir for the United States" (Press release). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). June 29, 2020. Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  22. "Financial Reports | AmerisourceBergen Corporation". AmerisourceBergen Corporation. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
  23. Higham, Scott; Bernstein, Lenny (March 9, 2017). "Opioid distributors sued by West Virginia counties hit by drug crisis". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  24. Jon Kamp (June 27, 2012). "West Virginia Sues Drug Distributors in Pill-Abuse Fight". WSJ. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  25. "Drug firms shipped 40M pain pills a year to WV". Charleston Gazette-Mail. May 17, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  26. Herman, Bob (December 18, 2019). "Major health care companies keep getting taken to court". Axios. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  27. Rossman-Mckinney, Kelly (December 17, 2019). "Michigan Goes After Opioid Distributors; Files Lawsuit Under Michigan Drug Dealer Liability Act". Michigan Department of the Attorney General.
  28. "Michigan Legislature - Section 691.1605". www.legislature.mi.gov. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  29. Ghose, Carrie (October 21, 2019). "Cardinal Health, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, Teva agree to $260M opioid settlement with Cuyahoga, Summit counties". Columbus Business First. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  30. "Attorney General Hunter Refiles Lawsuits against Three Leading Opioid Distributors | Oklahoma Attorney General". oag.ok.gov. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  31. Raymond, Nate (January 27, 2022). "Most U.S. local governments opt to join $26 bln opioid settlement". Reuters. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
  32. ^ Mann, Brian (February 25, 2022). "4 US companies will pay $26 billion to settle claims they fueled the opioid crisis". NPR. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
  33. Raymond, Nate (November 16, 2021). "Washington state, in $95 billion opioid trial, blames drug distributors for crisis". Reuters. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
  34. "AmerisourceBergen Corporation Agrees to Pay $625 Million to Resolve Allegations That it Illegally Repackaged Cancer–Supportive Injectable Drugs to Profit From Overfill". www.justice.gov. October 1, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  35. ^ "AmerisourceBergen Corp. To Pay $625 Million To Settle Civil Fraud Allegations Resulting From Its Repackaging And Sale Of Adulterated Drugs And Unapproved New Drugs, Double Billing And Providing Kickbacks". www.justice.gov. October 1, 2018. Retrieved June 26, 2020.Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  36. "AmerisourceBergen to pay $625M to settle whistleblower case for selling cancer vial overfills". FiercePharma. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  37. Herman, Bob. "Wall Street's fear of an opioids settlement". Axios. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  38. "Opioid Distributors Propose $10 Billion to End State Claims". Bloomberg.com. August 6, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  39. Herman, Bob. "McKesson, Cardinal, AmerisourceBergen offer $10 billion opioid settlement". Axios. Retrieved June 26, 2020.

External links

Contract research organization
Clinical Research
Clinical and Healthcare IT
Manufacturing
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